2 Responses to “Genocide Awareness and Holocaust Commemoration”

peacedevelopmentnetworksaid

“Oxfam Statement: Protecting civilians in a multipolar world” is very good on the Responsibility to Protect:

Governments and others can reduce the mass atrocities that blight the world in the early twenty-first century.

To do so, they need to make four changes. They need to:

1) make the protection of civilians the overriding priority in the response to conflicts everywhere – actively working to protect civilians, and upholding the Responsibility to Protect civilians from mass atrocities, agreed at the 2005 UN World Summit, as a cornerstone of policy;

2) adopt zero tolerance of war crimes – whether in counter-terrorism or elsewhere – applying the same standard of international opprobrium to war crimes committed by friends or foes alike;

3) act much more quickly to tackle the trends that threaten new or prolonged conflicts – including poverty and inequality, climate change, and arms proliferation – so that we can be better at preventing as well as reacting to conflicts;

4) join up effective action at every level, from local communities to the UN Security Council – so that international action works in conjunction with what works on the ground. To help achieve this, the way the UN Security Council works should be urgently reformed with greater transparency and accountability, in which the Council’s members have to account for their performance in pursuing international peace and security, including their Responsibility to Protect civilians from mass atrocities. All permanent members of the Security Council should renounce the use of their veto when the Council is discussing situations of actual or incipient war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.

Peter Schrodersaid

It was very good, Robin. Thanks. Most memorable to my heart are the exchanged words with my neighbour sitting next to me in the audience just before the start. Next comes the intense sensation of love in the room seeing all 40 or 50 participants coming in for the same topic. After that it was all about the speakers. So good, so wise, so thoughtful and so complimentary. Finally, the exchange of words after the event again. It was so easy to find the way to each others heart – all doors were standing wide open; best time to communicate. Thanks for all!